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Music » Repentance » The Sickness of Eden Cd - Album of the Year !!!

"Well, how about this? An Album Of The Year 2015 contender, already. 19 days into the new year. Before we’ve barely even started.

I know, I know. It’s a ridiculous thing to say, right? But have you heard this thing? Have you even heard it? It’s rare to think of a UKHC record as ‘eagerly anticipated’, but that’s certainly the case here. We’ve all been gobbling up whatever morsels this vegan-edge whirlwind of hatred throws our way, be it their marvellous debut EP In Violation Of Asa from 2013 or a handful of work-in-progress tracks that have appeared on Bandcamp since then. It’s all been excellent, and has always left us clamouring for more. Well, now it’s here. The Sickness Of Eden is xRepentancex‘s debut LP and it is a fucking belter.

Starting from a tried and tested 90’s metallic hardcore template, pulling a heap of thrash influences in to the mix and using the preachings of Sir Karl of Earth Crisis as a jumping off point, xRepentancex have created a raging 8 track manifesto whose message is simple : mankind, who has ravaged this earth of its natural goodness, have had their day in the sun and deserve to be wiped out. It’s serious stuff, and they’re not fucking about. At only 8 tracks long, The Sickness Of Eden is streamlined and precise; there’s no filler, no midway dips, no breather; just crisp, crunching venemous fury. This thing has more riffs than Hanneman had Heinekens and more breakdowns than Green Flag. Every track has enough pit-bait to cause a heart attack. It is insane.

It’s dynamic as hell too, xRepentancex filling the record with detail and shifts in mood. ‘Children Of Cain‘ and ‘Dominion’s End‘ are this band in a nutshell: balls-out aggression, dripping in contempt for humanity; Reign In Blood mixed with crushing mosh. At the other end of the scale is ‘Price Of Progression‘, which still starts with blistering, super-fast thrash, but catches its breath towards the end (following a nice twist on breakdown expectations – clean guitar? yes please) with a hauntingly melodic quiet section, backed with an appropriate, lengthy chunk of dialogue pulled from Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. It’s an astonishing change of pace but still hits like a truck.

The Sickness Of Eden feels like the record that these musicians were born to create. Christ, it feels like the kind of record that I was born to listen to. I literally don’t have a bad word to say about it. As far as metallic hardcore goes, it is perfect.

If this isn’t in my top 5 by the time December arrives then I will eat the internet."